


Lay Down This Armour

by klancellor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra are in the story but they're not aliens really, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keiths superhero name is Marmora, Lance falls for both Keith and Marmora so its kinda a love triangle, M/M, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, No bad endings here, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Rating May Change, Robeasts (Voltron), Slow Burn, Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), Superhero keith, no one dies, sorta?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24412735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klancellor/pseuds/klancellor
Summary: Lance always dreamed about a hero swooping in to save him, he never expected it would come true and by the very hero he'd been fantasising about no less.Keith never asked to have his powers but they sure come in handy when it comes to catching the attention of a certain cute boy.In which Keith is a superhero who protects the city from robeasts and Lance is smitten.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	Lay Down This Armour

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy, so it's been a while since I've posted anything here. I've been working on this fic for a while now but never got round to actually writing much because of uni and stuff, but unis almost over this year so I thought I would upload the first chapter since I'll have more time to work on it soon! This'll be the first klance au that I've ever posted so I hope everyone who reads this enjoys it! Anyway, on with the fic :)

For years they’d been around, almost as long as he could remember. Beings that killed without remorse; unfeeling and hollow - robotic. Lance guessed that’s where their name came from. ‘Robeasts’. The creatures that terrorised the city and all the people who lived in it. The ones that had caused thousands of devastating attacks all over resulting in nothing but suffering or at least that was the case until-

“There's been another attack, not too far from here”

“You know if _hes_ shown up?”

Lance leant closer, listening intently

“No news yet but it's almost certain he will isn't it, I mean this is _Marmora_ we’re talking about - he never misses an attack”

“Hey, creepy weirdo, would you stop listening in on those pure, innocent girls and focus on what you're actually meant to be doing” Pidge interrupted, poking him harshly with their pen.

Lance turned his head back from where he was not-so-subtly eavesdropping on the table next to theirs, frowning and rubbing his bruised arm.

“Work is boring though” He whined, sagging his body on top of the 3-inch-thick textbook in front of him.

“Montgomery said this essay is due tomorrow at 11” Hunk added, looking up from his own work in concern “and you promised you’d get it done _today_ ”

“Yeah, she's a right old bitch especially with you Lance. You don't want to poke the beast” Pidge grinned, earning them a disapproving look from Hunk.

Lance huffed “Shes gonna fail me either way, so what’s the point”. Now he thought about it, his wretched genetics professor was probably the one behind all the unexplained violent attacks across the city - her personality practically screamed ‘evil-scientist-mastermind’. 

“Besides I have all day tomorrow to work on it; it's due in the evening” Still, Hunk gave him one of his infamous mum stares - arms crossed and all, unconvinced by Lance's words. Huffing, he opened the text book he’d gotten from the library, staring blankly at the words. He managed to get about four sentences in when he felt his attention slipping. Lance sighed, shifting his eyes away from his work in favour of staring out of the slightly grubby yet far more interesting cafe window, head still slumped on the table when a paper cup was slammed down in front of him, obscuring his vision. He turned his gaze up to look at an exhausted Romelle.

“You have no idea how busy it's been” She groaned, her apron slightly askew and her blonde hair falling out the ponytail she always wore when she worked. If she weren't using the table as support, she looked as though she would probably collapse. 

“Woah, you okay? You look like death”

“God I _feel_ like death - customers have been pouring in non-stop” she closed her eyes, exhaling audibly through her mouth, perhaps louder than necessary

Hunk gave her an empathetic look “I know how you feel, the restaurant has been super busy lately too - my boss called me in three times last week to help out”

Lance watched as she slumped over the table, exhaustion clear in her body language. 

“I could always pick up your shift tomorrow” Lance offered.

She raised an eyebrow, unconvinced “Don't you have classes tomorrow?”

“Only one but it got cancelled so I’m completely free” Ignoring the look Hunk was sending him, he smirked, giving her his winning wink.

She rolled her eyes but not before she let a sigh of laughter break through her tired demeanor “Thank you Lance, that would be a great help”

He smiled back at her “Any time” His smile growing into a childish grin “besides, now you can go spend time with your _girlfriend_ ”

Romelle scrambled to straighten up, sputtering and cheeks coloured a deep red “Allura isn't my girlfriend!”

“Who said anything about Allura”

She gaped at him, an even deeper red spreading across her face, drawing an even bigger grin from Lance. She stormed off, accidentally bumping into a stack of chairs in her embarrassed daze.

“Watch it Lance, someday you’ll find someone who makes you as flushed as Allura makes Romelle and, when that day comes, she won’t hold back” Hunk warned, head tilted upwards, frown directed to the boy sat across from him.

Pidge scoffed “yeah right, as though loverboy Lance would ever settle down, we both saw you drooling earlier”

Lance gave an indignant gasp “Hey, what's that supposed to mean?”

Pidge smirks giving one of their manic giggles - the kind that never mean anything good

“We've all seen the way you look at those pictures of Marmora, Lance” He feels a surge of heat rush to his face “I bet you'd love if he swooped in to save _you_ ”

“I'm not in love with him, what the hell Pidge” He hisses, suddenly hyper-aware of the obvious die-hard Marmora fangirls on the table next to theirs “Hunk tell them”

Hunk returns to his work, clearly not wanting to get involved in their antics but not before quickly sharing a knowing look with Pidge, subtly agreeing. Pidge lifts a brow and gives Lance one of their ‘you were saying?’ sneers.

Lances whole face is burning now “Listen you two I am not in love with some stupid her-” 

“He’s appeared! Look, someone managed to get a picture!”

Lance jolts his head up, ignoring the not-so-subtle snort that comes from Pidge. He couldn't make out the grainy picture well from over the girls shoulder but the features were still relatively clear. Wielding a broad curved blade, donning a black hood and mask that covered most of his porcelain face, long dark hair peeking out from underneath. His lips were pressed in an indifferent line as if he had just experienced a minor inconvenience rather than fought off and killed a literal monster.

Everyone called him Marmora. Whenever there was an attack, he was at the scene before anything could get too out of control, took out the robeast and disappeared as if he were never even there, just a change in the wind. He had saved countless lives ever since the monsters had begun appearing around 2 years ago and yet, other than he was some kind of superhuman, no one knew a thing about him. He never stopped to talk to the press or the people he saved, never even gave some kind of gesture to say he acknowledged the impact he just had. It added to the mysterious air about him and that’s what captured people's interest - want to learn about the enigmatic superhero. It was no wonder he had people fanning over him left and right.

“Uhhh Lance, have you checked the time?” Pidge asked 

Lance checked his phone - 16:22. He gave them a questioning frown.

“Didn't you say you had a seminar at half-past?”

Realisation hit him “Shit!” 

Lance shot up from his chair, grabbing his work and frantically shoving it into his bag. It would take him at least 15 minutes to get back to the place he needed to go to on campus and that was when streets weren’t crowded by everyone leaving their work for the day. He snatched up his coffee, hurrying a quick goodbye before bolting out the door. It was definitely worth the 20 minute walk to the white lion cafe considering, well, he worked there and they for sure weren't going to refuse a discount to their best barista; being a student is _hard_ man you've gotta take any discount you can. The only downside was probably that Lance was the worst at keeping track of time, he had to have missed about eight classes just this semester. If he ran he could probably get there in less than 10 minutes - maybe 5. The streets were more empty than he expected, sparing him from the embarrassment of being stared at by strangers watching him sprint, out of breath and sweaty. 

Things were looking to be in his favour; he was about half-way there with just over a few minutes left to go when he was rapidly approaching an upcoming alleyway then _BAM_. Lance fell backwards, coffee flying out of his hands and splashing all over the front of the person he just rammed head-first into. 

As the initial shock passed and he could tear his eyes away from the tight, coffee soaked shirt that left nothing to the imagination, realisation of what just happened shot through Lance as he jumped up, still panting “Shoot, I’m so sorry, gimme one sec, I think I have some tissues”

The boy frowned down at his stained white shirt as if still processing the previous events. before he snapped his gaze to glare at Lance rifling through his bag while apologising profusely.

“You should watch where you’re going”

Lance stopped in his tracks, arm still half buried in his bag, lifting his head to give the boy a questioning look.

“Sorry?”

“I said you should watch where you’re going” The boy spat, still glaring daggers at Lance.

Great, just what he needed “Listen buddy, I wasn't the one who just walked out of some random alley unprompted, you should be the one looking out” Lance retorted, gritting his teeth.

The other boys’ glower deepened - if that was even possible - as he stepped forward into Lances’ space “Maybe I wasn't expecting some guy to be running down the street like a lunatic”

Lance gaped “You know, I was trying to be nice but since you’re being such an asshole you don't deserve my sympathy”

“I didn't ask for it”

Lance was stunned at the audacity as the other boy pushed past his shoulder, no doubt to do more bastardly things. Who the hell even was that guy - who just walks out of some dark creepy alleyway like it's a normal thing?

Lance checked his phone for the time. He was gonna be late for class for sure now.

* * *

As he predicted, Lance turned up late, bursting into the classroom breathless from running, drawing the embarrassing attention of the whole class as well as his rather pissed off professor. He took a seat closer to the back to avoid the gazes of his fellow students and catch his breath. As soon as class was over Lance left hurriedly 

When Lance got back to his shared apartment he noticed the unusual lack of noise - Hunk was usually making dinner in the kitchen at this time. He always looked forward to the heavenly meals his friend would make.

He dumped his keys and slipped off his shoes “Hunk? You home?”

When there was no response he wandered into the kitchen, a small bright yellow stickynote scrawled in Hunks large, rounded handwriting stuck on the counter.

At Shays - Be back in the morning

\- Hunk 

  
  


P.s We’re out of milk (hint, hint)

He guessed he would just have some kind of microwave meal tonight. Slightly disappointed at the downgrade Lance walked over to the fridge to check what they had. He opened it and sure enough, no milk. He also noticed a shortage of quite a few other essentials so he decided to go out now before everywhere shut. Grabbing his headphones from his bag and putting his shoes back on he left his flat.

* * *

Lance stepped out of his apartment block, headphones resting in his ears. The sun had already set and the soft afterglow it left was steadily fading. He found that this time of day was his favourite, when people would leave the streets and the noises of the world would settle.

He began his trek to the cornershop he and Hunk often frequented for emergency snacks. His music played a soft steady beat in his head as he strolled languidly, absorbing the last of the sun's rays. He stopped abruptly when he heard a shrill shriek cutting through the song he was listening to; a woman running panicked out of a nearby alcove, her face pale and searching when her eyes landed on Lance. The woman ran up to him desperately grabbing the sleeve of his sweater.

“Please, my sister” She cried, her eyes wide with fear “A man a-attacked her, he has a knife, please help her I’m begging you”

Lance stood for a moment in shock before snapping out of it, realising the weight of the situation. “Where is she, take me to her” And without a second thought, Lance followed the woman down the street and into a dark alley between buildings. The woman stopped, perhaps too panic-stricken to continue, but lance carried on, turning round a bend and reaching the end of the alleyway where he saw-

Nothing?

He looked around searching for perhaps a doorway or an alcove that the sister could be using to hide from the attacker, maybe some indication of a struggle or a fight but there was nothing.

Lance turned to rush back to the entrance of the alley but the woman already stood behind him. “I couldn't find anyone down there, are you sure this is the right place?” 

As he got closer he noticed her head was ducked, hair covering all of her face but the small, sinister smile painting from cheek to cheek, an unusual calm over her that was not there previously.

The woman let out a low breath - an almost laugh. She lifted her head, her eyes wide with malice

“Stupid boy” Lance took a cautious step back, legs touching cold brick “Don't you know it's dangerous to trust strangers at night”

With inhuman strength, she bodily slammed Lance into the wall, winding him before lifting him by the throat. Lance struggled, lifting his hands, grasping to try and free himself from the deathly firm grip, a futile attempt. He choked. He couldn't breathe. She held him there, teeth exposed in a crazed grin as she watched him writhe, eyes unblinking. A light flickered at the end of the alley, distorted in Lances oxygen deprived vision. This is where he dies isn't it. In a dark alley, late at night. And it was all because he’d tried to play the hero. The light flickered again and Lance could have sworn he saw a figure standing there. It must’ve been in his mind - a desperate attempt to cling to some hope that he wasn't going to die alone with some psycho murderer lady who preys upon defenceless passer-bys.

Shit. He was really going to die here. Shit shit shi-

“Let him go”

The woman's grin widened. Her grip around Lance's throat loosened, dropping him unceremoniously as she turned to face the figure.

“So the little hero decided to show up” She turned her eyes back to Lance who was crouched on the ground, gasping for air “And we were having so much fun too”

A longer flicker came from the light giving Lance a good look at the figure. They held a familiar looking sword in their hand, one he’d seen in grainy, zoomed in photos; the broad curved edge pointed directly at the woman. Lance traced the arm up to the masked face of the figure. There was no way was there? Sure enough, Marmora stood there in all his glory, armour, sword and all.

The woman cackled manically. “There's been quite a bounty put on your head little Marmora, my leader is quite annoyed you see; he’s wondering why all his experiments are being destroyed” 

If Marmora was being affected by any of her words, he didn't show it beyond his mask. “I was hoping to lure you out with a kill or two but it looks like you saved me the trouble” she looked back down at where lance was against the wall “ah how i would've liked to make this one scream though, hero types really piss me off” 

She took a step forward, bending her knees, hands reaching behind her. “Guess I’ll have to kill you first” It was then she leapt forward drawing two blades that glowed red, colour almost dripping from them. She sliced them where marmora stood but he was quicker. Vaulting over the woman he landed in a crouch just in front of where Lance sat, sword held in a defensive position. She lunged again, blades clashing with Marmora’s sword with eyes glowing a bright, sickening yellow. 

“I’ll admit it hero, you’re fast, but how long can you keep that up?” It was then that she pushed Marmora back with one of her blades, while the other slashed just below his torso where there was no armour to protect him. A painful wince graced the hero's face as he managed to throw her back with his blade. The hero clutched his side with his free hand. Her dagger had torn through his suit, deep red seeping between his fingers where he held his wound.

She laughed once more, eyes wide and unblinking, still flaring an unnatural yellow “Are you feeling it little hero! I coated my blades with a deadly poison strong enough to kill any human within mere minutes, right now it is circulating your body” She cackled “Of course, that won't be enough to kill you, though, it should put you out of action long enough for me to take your life” 

Lance looked up to the hero's face in panic. The mask he wore hid his eyes but his teeth were gritted in exertion. Still, his hand moved from his wound and to his sword. Was this hero really going to die protecting him? Lance's answer came when the woman darted forward, her blades at the ready, to where Marmora stood. The hero parried each of her blows but it was obvious that Marmora was weaker than before, moves more sluggish, less calculated. The grin on the woman's face grew wider, her strikes becoming more frantic as if she could smell her victory moments away. Sure enough, a particularly strong blow sent the hero falling to the ground, too weak to stand back up.

Looking down at to where he was sprawled on the floor, the woman pressed the heel of her boot into where she had wounded the hero earlier, forcing a grunt from him “You know, it's such a shame that this city’s hope was defeated so easily, I thought I’d be able to have more fun” She hissed with a smirk.

Lance needed to do something. He couldn't just watch as Marmora was killed in front of him. It was then that he spotted a sharp, rusted pole lying nearby. Grabbing it he dashed towards the woman, stabbing the pole into her back, she stumbled forward slightly. 

Letting out an annoyed huff, she pulled the pole out of her torso and Lance’s grasp with ease, as if it was a mere splinter, leaving him gaping at the sight “Stupid human, I cannot be killed with such a silly weapon” Tossing the pole, she turned on Lance “I thought such a weakling would know its place, but I guess you want to die first” Kicking him into the wall, he let out a pained yell, collapsing to the ground. _That definitely broke something_ he thought to himself. Lance looked up to see the woman stood over him, one of her daggers pointed down at his chest. Lifting up the blade, it was clear what was about to happen next. Lance braced himself, clenching his eyes shut and- nothing. He felt no pain, no knife though his chest. He looked up again and saw the woman frozen, mouth contorted in a silent scream. A curved blade had pierced its way through her sternum. Her daggers clattered to the ground as her body dissolved around the sword into a puff of purple smoke. 

And there stood Marmora - though he looked considerably weak. His face was pale from below his mask and his arm holding his blade shook, letting it fall to the side. He dropped onto his front on top of Lance who instantly started to freak out.

“W-Woah, hey don't die on me! I’ll call an ambulance okay, you’ll be-”

“No ambulance” The hero groaned. 

“No ambulance, okay sure” Lance began to panic more (if that was even possible), how was he meant to help this guy without a hospital. He couldn’t just leave him here in a dirty alley especially since he was wounded and _especially_ since he just saved Lance’s life. He wouldn’t.

“Okay buddy, you’re gonna have to help me here” He leant Marmora against his side and wrapped the hero's arm around his neck. He reached to pick up the sword, admiring the craftsmanship of the weapon. A detail he immediately noticed that was never in the pictures was the symbol at the base of the blade, curved and ablaze with a purple-tinted-white so bright he could’ve sworn it was glowing. He wrapped his hand round the hilt and picked it up, the weapon slightly lighter than he was expecting.

Checking Marmora was still safely breathing, he stood with the hero leaning onto him, wincing slightly from his injury. He began walking to the opening of the alley, checking no one was walking down the street - it wouldn't be the best if anyone saw him carrying not just a wounded man but a sword as well. Managing to reach his apartment without being seen, he fumbled with his keys before swinging the door open, leaving the sword leant up against a wall and carrying the hero to the bathroom, setting him down on the lid of the toilet.

Seeing the hero sat in such a way suddenly made it all real for Lance. _Marmora’s in my flat, the actual real hero Marmora - he's in my flat and sat on my toilet what the_ hell.

He managed to snap himself out of it long enough to rummage through the cupboards for the first aid kit, finding it fairly easily (frequent use from drunken escapades with Romelle made it quite recognisable to Lance). He pulled out some bandages and a clean washcloth.

“I'm gonna wrap your wound, okay?” but Marmora gave no response. Lance was about to lose whatever composure he had left when he saw how the hero's chest still rose and fell in steady breaths. Letting out a sigh he didn't know he was holding, he noticed how the hero’s bloodied suit would probably get in the way when patching him up, Lance leant Marmora over to see if there was some kind of clasp that he could undo and spotted a zip that ran under his chest armour. Lifting the armour off of the hero, he was careful not to remove the mask too. Lance guessed the reason the guy didn’t want a hospital was so the hero could stay anonymous and he wanted to respect that. 

After unzipping the back of the suit and pulling it down to stop at the hero’s hips (Lance wasn't gonna strip the guy bare), he ran the cloth under the tap. Turning back to the man sitting on his toilet, he bent down so he was eye level with the wound and- was it just his imagination or did it look much smaller than before? The edges of the skin had seemingly come together as if stitching everything up all by itself, at least the bleeding had stopped. Either way a wound was still a wound and he'd seen enough crazy shit today to care too much. Lance began to dab at the cut with the now wet cloth, removing any dirt that had gotten into it. He then wrapped the wound with the bandages, tying them off as tightly as he could 

“I guess I can't just leave you to sleep on the toilet can I” Lance huffed with a chuckle. He picked him up once more and brought him to his bedroom where he laid the hero on the bed, Lance sitting down on the floor next to him. The hero slept soundly - his face relaxed for the first time. “You really have to put up with a lot huh, what even was that back there.” He stopped to ponder the woman- the whatever he had run into “She seemed like- like she wasn't even human” His response was silence, not that he was expecting anything else. Lance sighed, wincing as the adrenaline finally started to wear off and all the pain and weariness of the day flooded back to him. He suddenly felt very tired, eyes too heavy to hold open any longer, so, he let sleep take him.

**Author's Note:**

> I should be back with another chapter soon so please stay tuned! Also, I'd love to hear peoples feedback on this so leave a comment if you'd like :) Thanks for reading!


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